Transformers: Council’s mission to be a leading local government

Ipswich City Council has embarked on a business transformation program to address priority issues and implement positive ethical change before the next local government elections in March 2020.

Under the title of Vision2020, the business transformation program consists of 18 separate projects across council’s operations and governance.

Interim Administrator Greg Chemello and Acting Chief Executive Officer Charlie Dill presented the broad strategy to council staff in a series of workshops in December.

Vision2020 has been created from a series of staff focus groups, management team workshops and discussions with industry and community leaders about how Ipswich City Council can return to being a leading local government; one that the Ipswich community can again respect and trust.

“Vision2020 is our blueprint to establish this council as an exemplar from which other councils can learn and strive to emulate,” said Mr Chemello, noting that a number of mayors and senior officers from other local governments had said they are expecting and hoping that Ipswich City Council will lead the way in local governance reforms over the next 15 months.

Mr Chemello said a considerable amount of work had already been done by various council departments to address operational reforms – the day-to-day running of council business.

And there would continue to be a heavy focus on major city projects such as development of Ipswich’s CBD, waste, roads and the creation of a new planning scheme.

However, it was now time to lay a broader platform of reform which would lead council into the future, he told staff at recent briefing sessions.

“We will be in consultation with other local government authorities to extract information on best practices which will help us to define leading government practices,” Mr Chemello said.

“It is important that we manage considerable policy, procedural and operational change within a healthy council culture.

“This means we have to stick to ‘Confide Recte Agens’, which means ‘be confident in doing right’; council’s motto for 158 years since this city was first established.”